*Bob*

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- C&A, BHS, Sainsburys, Clarks, Richards, the Entertainer, Rumbellows, just a handful o the famous retail names to abandon Peckham between 1985 and 1990. But surely half these stores didn't 'abandon peckham' - they disappeared nationwide. They don't exist anywhere any more.

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Very creepy - Do you often have to defend yourself > against people saying they don't believe you as > well? HA HA HA Sean.. you win 'diplomatic post of the day' award.

Louisa, I think your 'Doomsday Scenario' is rather far-fetched. I don't deny that there is a growing gap between well-off and poor, but the number of well-offs continues to increase. They're not some shrivelling minority (that's the 'rich' you're talking about there). We're going to need an awful lot of gated communities to fit them all in. Personally I think we should just gate-off anything north of Watford, and refuse to allow them entry unless they know what a ciabatta is.

Louisa.. it is an issue. I would consider myself to be pretty groovy on the racial front, but upon examination of my group of (close) friends, I find myself to have just one of asian/white mix, and one black (and the majority of her friends are white so I suppose she's a bit of an exception in herself). I didn't plan it that way.. that's just how it is. The are underlying socio-economic reasons for the problems you describe of course, but there's just no denying that people, on the whole, tend to gravitate towards other people who are most like themselves.

I can take all of that on board, but.. gentrification isn't race-specific, is it? Are you saying that (*speaking very generally*) black people don't want to live in ED, or just that they just can't afford it?

At least the MC cocks are not in the habit of bottling you if you accidentally catch their eye en route home from the pub. Mrs *Bob* and I had a comedy encounter in a baby-shop last week. A woman came in with her toddler. She told the assistant she was looking for a very cheap pushchair. On noticing we were in the shop, she said, loudly: "Yeah, it's just to take on holiday. We've got a Bugaboo, but wouldn't want to risk it - I mean - the amount it cost us.. you know" (then to her toddler) "would we, darling? Cor.. the amount that cost us you'll be in that Bugaboo until you're 12!" c.o.c.k

When will this idiotic 'trust fund kids' nonsense go away? A one-bed flat in ED averages at ?235k A one-bed flat in Tooting averages at ?240k That's right.. grubby old Tooting, tucked away near the bottom of the Northern line still costs more to buy a flat in than ED. It's probably all the trust fund kids - buying up all the flats and pushing the prices up. How about Colliers Wood, even further out? ?245k average. Packed with trust fund kids, no doubt. ED is still undervalued compared to comparative areas of London.

Not you, Keef. You live in Sydenham, I believe - so therefore you're not a ponce. But in a few years, when Sydenham goes the same way as ED, you'll be a ponce as well. That's just how it is.

Of course.. but that's because when someone says "when did ED become so poncey", what they actually mean is "ED is full of ponces and if you live here then there's a good chance that this means you!"

The spirit of Dick Emery lives on..

I forgot the moral of the story: Stay well clear of the cocks and you'll be just fine

Let's not beat around the bush. A cock is a cock. And there are cocks in every demographic of society. Middle class cocks are stand-offish, drive look-at-me cars, have nothing to talk about except their work and possessions and and are snobby and smug. Working class cocks take delight in being aggressive and threatening, don't care about the area they live in, act unsociably and selfishly within a shared environment and start fights because someone looked at them in a funny way. There are more middle class cocks in ED now, and less working class cocks. But the cock percentage is roughly the same.

Yeah man, the place used to be so wicked, edgy, vibrant, kickin' and downright cool.. translation If only I'd bought a flat here a few years back for tuppence I wouldn't be so miffed about not being able to afford one now.

I've only lived in London for 10 years but to say the transport system etc hasn't improved is madness. Whether you think he's right or wrong (and I don't always think he's right) whatever Ken does he does because he has a vision for London, and I admire that. At least someone in politics has got a vision for something these days. I admire the way he faces-down his critics (regularly, eg his regular showdown with Vanessa's listeners on BBC Radio London): knowledgeably and without advisors whispering in his ears. And.. I agree Portillo would have been a much better opposition candidate.

Good point, MadWorld. Dear Louisa spends much time on't forum denouncing those who like what they consider to be 'the finer things in life'. Fast forward to Bolton where she gets stoned to death for asking if there's a Pret-A-Manger in the vicinity. It's always good to remember: just when you think everyone else is a bit of an arse and you're the voice of reason, there's always a whole load of other people who would think that you're a bit of an arse at well. It's not a snappy motto, but I think it works.

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Older than some but younger than most 58 then.

How old are we talkin' here?

Ladygooner Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I would like my picnic as far away from any > bugaboos as possible! Then you're posting on the wrong forum.

I suppose it depends on your definition of 'important'. If you define it as being one of the greatest authors the country has produced, it ought to be Dickens. If you define it as someone who was awful, but you liked them, it ought to be Emery.

The CPT has always appealed to me as a place to go. Alas, I have no pals on 'that side' of ED, so we always end-up elsewhere. Lots of people seem to like it (or the look of it) but it always seems a bit empty. It is just laziness cos it's off the main drag?

If it's got to be 'off the peg', I like 'Eat'. Nice sarnies. Job done.

The Nazi stuff is all down in the basement. With the gimp.

Nah.. Enid Blyton.

James, how right you are. I'll be voting for Ken, despite the constant bleatings from The Mail and Cabbies that eeee's ruined laaaaandon. The idea of voting for Boris on the grounds that he 'might not be quite so much of a tit as he makes out' is an odd one.

Boris would make a fantastic Mayor.. but I'm thinking more of the kind of town mayor who wears a gold chain does handshaking photoshoots for the local rag when the church does a bring-and-buy sale. Not the kind of Mayor with real power in a major world city.